Can’t delete wordpress folders to re-install?

– You chose to install in the main directory of the domain mydomain.net, but there are conflicting filenames, therefore we can not proceed. Following filenames already exist in the main directory of the domain mydomain.net (path=”/home/admin/public_html/mydomain.net/”). You must manually remove these files before proceeding with auto-installation: wp-content
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Well, this happened to me. Every time I deleted they’d come back! This is how I fixed it:

What finally worked for me is to RENAME the folder wp-content to something different. I just added a bunch of random letters.

before: “wp-content”
after: “wp-contentsldfk”

I also had to rename the folders: “wp-admin” and “wp-includes”

Did a new install. Worked.

Not sure if it will work for you, but couldn’t hurt to give it a try

ALTERNATE OPTION (07/08/10):

Submitted by Gareth

Another way is to change the permissions of the files you are trying to delete. Regardless of how you are viewing your files….either by ftp software like Filezilla or through you hosting provider you can view all your files via ftp. Locate the files you want to delete, so in this case it is the wp_admin, content & includes files…….so individually click them and rename them as mentioned above, then on the control panel locate the change permissions button. Make sure all boxes are ticked so that the files are writeable etc etc etc…..save your changes then you can go back and try to delete…….

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35 thoughts on “Can’t delete wordpress folders to re-install?”

If you have important files uploaded, save them somewhere. What I did is deleted everything, and discovered which files kept coming back. They were the 3 folders I listed in the post, so I renamed them, then tried reinstalling wordpress with fantastico and it worked. It looks like your file index.php is the culprit so I would try to delete that and try installing again. Let me know if this helps. If not, send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll see what I can do

thanks for this post. I am having this problem right, now. However, it tells me there are conflicted name files, but don’t list them so, I do not know what to delete. Have you had any problems with this. Below is what it said. Thanks Rue

The installation can not be completed:

– You chose to install in the main directory of the domain clmvisuals.com, but there are conflicting filenames, therefore we can not proceed. Following filenames already exist in the main directory of the domain clmvisuals.com (path=”/home/clm/public_html/”).You must manually remove these files before proceeding with auto-installation:
index.php

Thank you SO much. This was driving me nuts. It’s bad enough that I don’t want to press a button that can potentially affect several sites by mistake, but when you finally get brave enough to press delete and the suckers keep coming back, that’s just mind bending. All good now.

another way is to change the permissions of the files you are trying to delete. Regardless of how you are viewing your files….either by ftp software like Filezilla or through you hosting provider you can view all your files via ftp. Locate the files you want to delete, so in this case it is the wp_admin, content & includes files…….so individually click them and rename them as mentioned above, then on the control panel locate the change permissions button. Make sure all boxes are ticked so that the files are writeable etc etc etc…..save your changes then you can go back and try to delete…….

Thanks so much for posting this!! Was driving me crazy – couldn’t figure out what to do!! Your solutions (change filename and change permissions) worked perfectly. I now have WordPress re-installed. THANKS HEAPS, YOU’RE A LEGEND!!! 😀

hi nick thanks for the info was getting so frustrated.do you know anything about wptwindeploy.I have uploaded the files i need and they are sitting in the directory of worpress but when i hit the deploy files it just takes me to a quick install page of wordpress but it is already installed in the cpanel.If you can answer this one you would be helping a lot of people.

Thanks – finally managed to do this. I had to use Legacy File Manager in Fantastico cpanel rather than the basic file manager (where I could not change the file names) and all I did was change permissions on each file (ticked all for user) and then deleted them.

On re-installing wordpress it told me I had to also delete index.php file – I did so through Legacy file manager, and now wordpress has been re-installed.